Easy Digital Downloads vs Ghost: Which is right for you? (1970)

TL;DR

Choose Easy Digital Downloads if you want the simplest, fastest setup.
Choose Ghost if keeping fees low matters most.
Both work for: teams in their respective categories.

Easy Digital Downloads

Personal $99/year. Extended $199/year. Professional $299/year.

WordPress plugin for selling digital products. Strong for software developers selling plugins or themes. Open source core with paid extensions.

Ghost

Self-hosted: free. Ghost(Pro): from $9/month. Stripe handles payments (0% platform fee).

Open source publishing platform with native paid memberships via Stripe. 0% platform fee — only Stripe's processing costs. Best for established writers who want full control.

Pricing comparison

Pricing model

flat_annual

flat_monthly

Detail

Personal $99/year. Extended $199/year. Professional $299/year.

Self-hosted: free. Ghost(Pro): from $9/month. Stripe handles payments (0% platform fee).

Feature comparison

Easy Digital Downloads

Ghost

Merchant of record

Paywalls

Yes

A/B testing

Tax handled

No-code

Yes

Open source

Yes

Ease of setup

4/5

3/5

Fee competitiveness

4/5

5/5

Conversion tooling

2/5

3/5

Advanced billing

2/5

Best for

Easy Digital Downloads is best for WordPress, Digital products, ebooks, software, plugins, Publishers. Ghost is best for Newsletters, blogs, Memberships, indie creators, open source, Creators.

FAQ

Is Easy Digital Downloads better than Ghost?

Neither is universally better. Easy Digital Downloads is the right pick if you want the simplest, fastest setup; Ghost wins if keeping fees low matters most.

Which is cheaper, Easy Digital Downloads or Ghost?

Ghost ranks higher on fee competitiveness (5/5). Easy Digital Downloads pricing: Personal $99/year. Extended $199/year. Professional $299/year.. Ghost pricing: Self-hosted: free. Ghost(Pro): from $9/month. Stripe handles payments (0% platform fee)..

Can I switch from Easy Digital Downloads to Ghost?

Yes — most subscription and billing tools support migration via CSV import or API. Expect to reconfigure webhooks, paywalls, and entitlements. Check both vendors' migration docs before committing.

Does Easy Digital Downloads handle sales tax?

No. Easy Digital Downloads does not handle tax registrations — you handle those yourself or via a separate tool.

All Easy Digital Downloads alternatives →All Ghost alternatives →

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